Werburgh Street Theatre

The Werburgh Street Theatre, also the Saint Werbrugh Street Theatre or the New Theatre, was a seventeenth-century theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Scholars and historians of the subject generally identify it as the "first custom-built theatre in the city," "the only pre-Restoration playhouse outside London," and the first Dublin theatre.[1]

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The Werburgh Street Theatre was established by John Ogilby at least by 1637 and perhaps as early as 1634.[2] It was a roofed and enclosed building, or what was then called a "private theatre" like the contemporaneous Cockpit Theatre or Salisbury Court Theatre in London (as opposed to a large open-air "public theatre" like the Globe or the Red Bull). According to one report, the theatre "had a gallery and pit, but no boxes, except one on the stage for the then Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Strafford."[3] Ogilby had come to Ireland in Strafford's entourage, and Strafford, who was fond of the theatre, gave him every encouragement. John Aubrey termed it "a pretty little theatre." No trace of it survives, but it was located on Werburgh Street near Dublin Castle.

Shirley may also have brought some London actors with him to Dublin. Shirley had functioned as the house dramatist for Queen Henrietta's Men, but the plague crisis of 1636–37 had disrupted that company. Four veterans of the troupe — William Allen, Michael Bowyer, Hugh Clark, and William Robbins — disappeared from the London theatre scene for the time that Shirley was in Dublin; they reappeared at the end of the Dublin venture in 1640, when all four joined the King's Men. The years of the Werburgh fill the holes in the four actors' careers.[5]

"The Theatre came to a sudden end with the outbreak of the rebellion in 1641. In October the Lords Justices prohibited playing there; and shortly after, we are told, the building was 'ruined and spoiled, and a cow-house made of the stage.'"[6] (Shirley had sailed for England on April 18, 1640.)

Three and a half centuries later, the site of the former theatre was the yard of Kerfoot's Dining Rooms at 13 Werburgh St., Dublin.

^Joseph Quincy Adams, quoting a contemporary manuscript source, in Shakespearean Playhouses: A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1917; p. 419.

1.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle

2.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%

3.
John Ogilby
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John Ogilby was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. Best known for publishing the first British road atlas, he was also a successful translator, Ogilby was born in or near Killemeare, Scotland in November 1600. This he used to himself to a dancing master and to obtain his fathers release. By further good management of his finances, he was able to buy himself an early completion of his apprenticeship, however, a fall while dancing in a masque lamed him for life and ended this career. Ogilby then went on to establish Irelands first theatre, the Werburgh Street Theatre, for the four years that the theatre was open it was a great success but it had to be closed as a result of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Finding his way on foot to Cambridge, he learned Latin from kindly scholars who had been impressed by his industry and he then ventured to translate Virgil into English verse, which brought him a considerable sum of money. The success of this attempt encouraged Ogilby to learn Greek from David Whitford, after his return to London in 1650, he married the widow Christina Hunsdon, who had three children by her earlier marriage. The next few years were spent in translating and the opening of a business in London. The Restoration of Charles II brought favour back to Ogilby with a commission to help in the arrangements for the coronation in 1660 with the composing of speeches, in that year too he brought out his translation of Homers Iliad, dedicated to his royal patron. A year later he was again made Master of the Revels in Ireland and he set about the building of a new theatre in Smock Alley, Dublin. The libretto of the musical play Pompey by Katherine Philips, performed at Smock Alley in 1663, by 1665 Ogilby had returned to London and published a second, revised edition of The Fables of Aesop, this time illustrated by Wenceslaus Hollars renowned prints. He had to republish the book in 1668 since his property was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, in 1674 Ogilby had been appointed His Majestys Cosmographer and Geographic Printer. The Britannia atlas of 1675 set the standard for the maps that followed. At that period some of the roads used the local mile rather than the standard mile of 1760 standard yards which Ogilby adopted in his atlas. One hundred strip road maps are shown, accompanied by a page of text giving additional advice for the maps use. Another innovation was Ogilbys scale of one inch to the mile and these are marked and numbered on each map, the miles further being divided into furlongs. After the maps publication, Ogilby died in 1676 and was buried at St Brides Church, one of Sir Christopher Wrens new London churches. In the years followed, Ogilbys reputation as a translator was to suffer from the attacks made on him by John Dryden in his satirical MacFlecknoe

4.
Theater (structure)
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A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed, or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance, a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces, the facility is traditionally organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members. There are as many types of theaters as there are types of performance, theaters may be built specifically for a certain types of productions, they may serve for more general performance needs or they may be adapted or converted for use as a theater. They may range from open-air amphitheaters to ornate, cathedral-like structures to simple, some theaters may have a fixed acting area, while some theaters, such as black box theaters, may not, allowing the director and designers to construct an acting area suitable for the production. The most important of these areas is the acting space generally known as the stage, in some theaters, specifically proscenium theaters, arena theaters and amphitheaters, this area is permanent part of the structure. In a blackbox theater the area is undefined so that each theater may adapt specifically to a production. In addition to these spaces, there may be offstage spaces as well. These include wings on either side of a stage where props, sets. A Prompters box may be found backstage, in an amphitheater, an area behind the stage may be designated for such uses while a blackbox theater may have spaces outside of the actual theater designated for such uses. Often a theater will incorporate other spaces intended for the performers, a booth facing the stage may be incorporated into the house where lighting and sound personnel may view the show and run their respective instruments. Other rooms in the building may be used for dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, spaces for constructing sets, props and costumes, as well as storage. There are usually two main entrances, one at the front, used by the audience, that leads into the back of the audience, the second is called the stage door, and it is accessible from backstage. This is the means by which the cast and crew enter and exit the theater and this term can also be used to refer to going to a lot of shows or living in a big theater city, such as New York or Chicago. All theaters provide a space for an audience, the audience is usually separated from the performers by the proscenium arch. In proscenium theaters and amphitheaters, the arch, like the stage, is a permanent feature of the structure. This area is known as the auditorium or the house, the word parterre is sometimes used to refer to a particular subset of this area. In North American usage this is usually the rear seating block beneath the gallery whereas in Britain it can mean either the area in front near the orchestra pit, the term can also refer to the side stalls in some usages. Derived from the gardening term parterre, the usage refers to the pattern of both the seats of an auditorium and of the planted beds seen in garden construction

5.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time

6.
English Restoration
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The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established. It is very used to cover the whole reign of Charles II. Richard Cromwells main weakness was that he did not have the confidence of the army, after seven months, an army faction known as the Wallingford House party removed him on 6 May 1659 and reinstalled the Rump Parliament. Charles Fleetwood was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety and of the Council of State, on 9 June 1659, he was nominated lord-general of the army. However, his leadership was undermined in Parliament, which chose to disregard the armys authority in a fashion to the post-First Civil War Parliament. A royalist uprising was planned for 1 August 1659, but it was foiled, however, Sir George Booth gained control of Cheshire, Charles II hoped that with Spanish support he could effect a landing, but none was forthcoming. Booth held Cheshire until the end of August when he was defeated by General Lambert, the Commons, on 12 October 1659, cashiered General John Lambert and other officers, and installed Fleetwood as chief of a military council under the authority of the Speaker. The next day Lambert ordered that the doors of the House be shut, on 26 October a Committee of Safety was appointed, of which Fleetwood and Lambert were members. Lambert was appointed major-general of all the forces in England and Scotland, the Committee of Safety sent Lambert with a large force to meet George Monck, who was in command of the English forces in Scotland, and either negotiate with him or force him to come to terms. It was into this atmosphere that Monck, the governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, lamberts army began to desert him, and he returned to London almost alone. The Presbyterian members, excluded in Prides Purge of 1648, were recalled, Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before Parliament to answer for his conduct. On 3 March 1660, Lambert was sent to the Tower of London, Lambert was incarcerated and died in custody on Guernsey in 1694, Ingoldsby was indeed pardoned. On 4 April 1660, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda, Monck organised the Convention Parliament, which met for the first time on 25 April. On 8 May it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the monarch since the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649. Constitutionally, it was as if the last nineteen years had never happened, Charles returned from exile, leaving the Hague on 23 May and landing at Dover on 25 May. He entered London on 29 May, his birthday, to celebrate his Majestys Return to his Parliament,29 May was made a public holiday, popularly known as Oak Apple Day. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661, some contemporaries described the Restoration as a divinely ordained miracle. The sudden and unexpected deliverance from usurpation and tyranny was interpreted as a restoration of the natural, the Cavalier Parliament convened for the first time on 8 May 1661, and it would endure for over 17 years, finally being dissolved on 24 January 1679

7.
Cockpit Theatre
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The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane, after damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix. The original building was a cockpit, that is, a staging area for cockfights. In August 1616, Christopher Beeston acquired the lease to the building, like earlier theatres, such as The Theatre in Shoreditch and The Globe in Southwark, the location was just outside the jurisdiction of the City of London. Beeston expanded the small building, the construction work prompted complaints by neighbors. The resulting theatre was, by one estimate,52 feet by 37 feet, in 1617, the building suffered damage during rioting, Beeston renovated the theatre and renamed it the Phoenix. The old name continued in use as well. The architect commissioned for the renovation is not known for a certainty, Beeston intended the Cockpit to serve as an indoor complement to the Red Bull, the outdoor theatre then home to his acting troupe, Queen Annes Men. A winter venue was needed to compete with the Blackfriars Theatre in the possession of their rival troupe, after a rocky start, the company proved successful in their new locale. Wickham attributes the success more to the location and comfort and to the flair of its manager, Beeston. Beeston would oversee several different troupes in the Cockpit before his death in 1639, Queen Annes Men were there from 1617 to 1619, when that company dissolved upon the death of Anne of Denmark in 1619, their place was taken by Prince Charless Men from 1619 to 1622. Lady Elizabeths Men were there from 1622 to 1624, and perhaps for sporadic periods as early as 1619, Queen Henriettas Men had a long run at the Cockpit, from 1625 to 1636. They would continue in the theatre under the management of his son William, William Beeston was forced out of the theatre when his choice of plays met with the disapproval of the Court. He was replaced by William Davenant in 1639, all theatres were closed by Parliament in 1642, under the Commonwealth. The Cockpit was used as a schoolroom, but plays continued to be shown illegally and it was raided by Puritan soldiers during a performance in 1649 and the players were imprisoned. In 1651 William Beeston paid £200 for repairs to the theatre, the Cockpit was also used in this era by the companies of John Rhodes and George Jolly. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary of several visits to the theatre between 1660 and 1663, in 1663, Killigrews Kings Company opened the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane nearby. The Cockpit was unable to compete with this grand new theatre and was further hamstrung since it was shut out of the monopoly on legitimate drama granted to the two patent companies

8.
Salisbury Court Theatre
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The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury, Salisbury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564, when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset in 1604, the building was renamed Dorset House. Little is known about the form and shape of the Salisbury Court Theatre. The Salisbury Court was built at a cost of £1,000 by Richard Gunnell, an actor and the manager of the Fortune. At some point in the middle of the 1630s, control of the passed to the dictatorial management of Richard Heton. Salisbury Court was the last theatre to be built before the closing of the theatres in 1642, in March 1649, the authorities destroyed the interior of the Salisbury Court theatre, and the Fortune and the Cockpit too, making them useless for public performances. George Jollys troupe also played there for a time, samuel Pepys records visiting it several times in his diary for early 1661. Pepys famous Diary provides information on the plays acted at the Salisbury Court Theatre immediately after the theatres re-opened, the building burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was replaced in 1671 by the Dorset Garden Theatre, which was slightly further south to a design by Christopher Wren. The theatre is commemorated by a plaque on the Dorset Rise side of the KPMG headquarters that now occupies the end of Salisbury Court. 7 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1941-68, a Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964 Baltimore, Penguin,1964. The Staging of Plays at the Salisbury Court Theatre, 1630–1642, thomson, Peter, Jane Milling, and Joseph W. Donohue, eds. The Cambridge History of British Theatre,3 Volumes, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,2005. Whitefriars, Old and New London, Volume 1, pp. 182-99, shakespearean Playhouses, by Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr. from Project Gutenberg

9.
Globe Theatre
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The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. A second Globe Theatre was built on the site by June 1614. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named Shakespeares Globe, opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre, from 1909, the current Gielgud Theatre was called Globe Theatre, until it was renamed in 1994. The shape of the foundations is now replicated on the surface, as the majority of the foundations lies beneath 67—70 Anchor Terrace, a listed building, no further excavations have been permitted. The Globe was owned by actors who were shareholders in the Lord Chamberlains Men. 5%. These initial proportions changed over time as new sharers were added, Shakespeares share diminished from 1/8 to 1/14, or roughly 7%, over the course of his career. The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from a theatre, The Theatre. The Burbages originally had a 21-year lease of the site on which the theatre was built, however, the landlord, Giles Allen, claimed that the building had become his with the expiry of the lease. While only a hundred yards from the shore of the Thames. The new theatre was larger than the building it replaced, with the older timbers being reused as part of the new structure and he suggests that a Swiss tourists account of a performance of Julius Caesar witnessed on 21 September 1599 describes the more likely first production. The first performance for which a record remains was Jonsons Every Man out of His Humour—with its first scene welcoming the gracious. On 29 June 1613 the Globe Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry VIII, a theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no-one was severely injured in the event. It was rebuilt in the following year, like all the other theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642. It was pulled down in 1644-45, the cited document dating the act to 15 April 1644 has been identified as a probable forgery—to make room for tenements. A modern reconstruction of the theatre, named Shakespeares Globe, opened in 1997 and it is an academic approximation of the original design, based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings, and is located approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre. The Globes actual dimensions are unknown, but its shape and size can be approximated from scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries, the evidence suggests that it was a three-storey, open-air amphitheatre approximately 100 feet in diameter that could house up to 3,000 spectators. The Globe is shown as round on Wenceslas Hollars sketch of the building, however, in 1988–89, the uncovering of a small part of the Globes foundation suggested that it was a polygon of 20 sides

10.
Red Bull Theatre
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The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy. After Parliament closed the theatres in 1642, it continued to host illegal performances intermittently, and it burned in the Great Fire of London, among the last of the Renaissance theatres to fall. Less is known of the Red Bulls provenance than of other venues such as the Globe Theatre. It was constructed in 1604 on St John Street in Clerkenwell and this origin accounts for its square floor plan, a design shared only by the original Fortune among period playhouses. It may have named for cattle that were driven down St John Street toward the markets at Smithfield. Apart from these few facts, little is known of the theatres particulars, W. C. Lawrence argued that the theatre was roofed over in the early 1620s, but his arguments were largely refuted by Leslie Hotson and G. E. Bentley. Its occupancy was perhaps less than the nearly 3,000 of the Globe. In addition to Greene, Martin Slater, Aaron Holland, Queen Annes Men stayed at the theatre until 1617. The audience appears to have booed The White Devil in 1611, in 1617, the Queens Men, now directed by impresario Christopher Beeston moved to Beestons new Cockpit Theatre, the move prompted a mob of apprentices to burn the Cockpit on Shrove Tuesday 1617. The Queens Men returned to the Red Bull, however, only until the Cockpit was repaired and they were succeeded at the Red Bull by Prince Charles Men, partly financed by Edward Alleyn. The disintegration of Queen Annes men after Annes death in 1618 produced a little-understood reshuffling of these companies, after Jamess death, Charles assumed patronage of the Kings Men, and the former Prince Charles Men disbanded. From this date, a less reputable company took up residence at the Red Bull. Scholars generally call this troupe the Red Bull company, as the actors called themselves when in London, in 1627, Henry Herbert, acting on a request from John Heminges, ordered this company to cease performing Shakespeares plays. By 1634, the Red Bull housed a new company patronized by the child Prince Charles II, along with all the other theatres in London, the Red Bull was closed for plays in 1642 by the Puritans. There followed a crackdown on performances by Parliament, which grew wiser to the implications of advertisements for rope dancing. On 20 December 1649, the Red Bull was successfully raided, a number of arrested and imprisoned. The Red Bull is the only theatre incontestably associated with drolls, in 1653, Robert Cox was arrested at the Red Bull for a performance which crossed the line and was deemed a play

11.
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
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Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I, from 1632–40 he was Lord Deputy of Ireland, where he established a strong authoritarian rule. Recalled to England, he became an advisor to the King, attempting to strengthen the royal position against Parliament. When Parliament condemned him to death, Charles signed the death warrant, Thomas Wentworth was born on 13 April 1593 in London. He was the son of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, a member of an old Yorkshire family, in 1622 Wentworths first wife Margaret Clifford died. He represented Pontefract in the Happy Parliament of 1624, but appears to have no active part. He expressed a wish to avoid complications and do first the business of the commonwealth. Yet he had never taken up an attitude of antagonism to the King and his position was very different from that of the regular opposition. He was anxious to serve the Crown, but he disapproved of the Kings policy, in January 1626 Wentworth asked for the presidency of the Council of the North, and was favourably received by Buckingham. In 1627, he refused to contribute to the forced loan, in 1628, Wentworth was one of the more vocal supporters of the Petition of Right, which attempted to curb the power of the King. Once Charles had accepted the Petition, Wentworth felt it appropriate to support the crown, saying The authority of a king is the keystone which closeth up the arch of order and he was consequently branded a turncoat. In the parliament of 1628, Wentworth joined the leaders in resistance to arbitrary taxation and imprisonment. He led the movement for a bill which would have secured the liberties of the subject as completely as the Petition of Right afterwards did, but in a manner less offensive to the King. Later in the session he quarrelled with Eliot, because he wanted to come to a compromise with the Lords, so as to leave room for the King to act unchecked in special emergencies. On 22 July 1628, not long after the prorogation, Wentworth was created Baron Wentworth and this implied no change of principle. When once the breach was made it naturally grew wider, partly from the each party put into its work. As yet Wentworth was not directly involved in the government of the country, however, following the assassination of Buckingham, in December 1628, he became Viscount Wentworth and not long afterwards president of the Council of the North. Whoever, he said, ravels forth into questions the right of a king and of a people shall never be able to wrap them up again into the comeliness and order he found them

12.
John Aubrey
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John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the Brief Lives and he was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England, and who is particularly noted as the discoverer of the Avebury henge monument. The Aubrey holes at Stonehenge are named after him, although there is doubt as to whether the holes that he observed are those that currently bear the name. He was also a pioneer folklorist, collecting together a miscellany of material on customs, traditions and he set out to compile county histories of both Wiltshire and Surrey, although both projects remained unfinished. His Interpretation of Villare Anglicanum was the first attempt to compile a full-length study of English place-names and he had wider interests in applied mathematics and astronomy, and was friendly with many of the greatest scientists of the day. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, thanks largely to the popularity of Brief Lives, Aubrey was regarded as more than an entertaining but quirky, eccentric. Only in the 1970s did the full breadth and innovation of his begin to be more widely appreciated. He published little in his lifetime, and many of his most important manuscripts remain unpublished, or published only in partial and unsatisfactory form. Aubrey was born at Easton Piers or Percy, near Kington St Michael, Wiltshire, to a long-established and his grandfather, Isaac Lyte, lived at Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset, now owned by the National Trust. Richard Aubrey, his father, owned lands in Wiltshire and Herefordshire, for many years an only child, he was educated at home with a private tutor, he was melancholy in his solitude. His father was not intellectual, preferring field sports to learning, Aubrey read such books as came his way, including Bacons Essays, and studied geometry in secret. He was educated at the Malmesbury grammar school under Robert Latimer and he then studied at the grammar school at Blandford Forum, Dorset. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642, but his studies were interrupted by the English Civil War and his earliest antiquarian work dates from this period in Oxford. In 1646 he became a student of the Middle Temple and he spent a pleasant time at Trinity in 1647, making friends among his Oxford contemporaries, and collecting books. He was to show Avebury to Charles II at the Kings request in 1663 and his father died in 1652, leaving Aubrey large estates, but with them some complicated debts. He claimed that his memory was not tenacious by 17th-century standards, but from the early 1640s he kept notes of observations in natural philosophy, his friends ideas. He also began to write Lives of scientists in the 1650s, in 1659 he was recruited to contribute to a collaborative county history of Wiltshire, leading to his unfinished collections on the antiquities and the natural history of the county. His erstwhile friend and fellow-antiquary Anthony Wood predicted that he would one day break his neck while running downstairs in haste to interview some retreating guest or other and he drank the Kings health in Interregnum Herefordshire, but with equal enthusiasm attended meetings in London of the republican Rota Club

13.
Dublin Castle
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Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the United Kingdom governments administration in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland, the Kingdom of Ireland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, the complex was handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government led by Michael Collins. The castle today is a major tourist attraction and conferencing destination, the building is also used for State dinners and most significantly, the inauguration of the presidents of Ireland. Dublin Castle fulfilled a number of roles through its history, the second in command in the Dublin Castle administration, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, also had his offices there. Over the years parliament and law courts met at the castle before moving to new purpose-built venues and it also served as a military garrison. Castle Catholic was a term for Catholics who were considered to be overly friendly with or supportive of the British administration. Upon formation of the Free State in 1922, the castle assumed for a decade the role of the Four Courts on the Liffey quays which had been damaged during the Civil War. It was decided in 1938 that the inauguration of the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde would take place in the castle, two dedicated conference facilities, The Hibernia Conference Centre and The Printworks, were install for the European Presidencies of 1990 and 2013. Sited to the south-east of Norman Dublin, the formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city. The city wall directly abutted the castles northeast Powder Tower, extending north, in 1620 the English-born judge Luke Gernon was greatly impressed by the wall, a huge and mighty wall, foursquare, and of incredible thickness. The Poddle was diverted into the city through archways where the walls adjoined the castle, one of these archways and part of the wall survive buried underneath the 18th-century buildings, and are open to public inspection. The building survived until 1673, when it was damaged by fire, the Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish counterpart to the English Star Chamber, sat in Dublin Castle in a room which was specially built for it about 1570. The Castle sustained severe damage in 1684. Extensive rebuilding transformed it from medieval fortress to Georgian palace, United Irishmen General Joseph Holt, a participant in the 1798 Rising, was incarcerated in the Bermingham Tower before being transported to New South Wales in 1799. In 1884 officers at the Castle were at the centre of a homosexual scandal incited by the Irish Nationalist politician William OBrien through his newspaper United Ireland. In 1907 the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen from the Castle, suspicion fell upon the Officer of Arms, Sir Arthur Vicars, but rumours of his homosexuality and links to socially important gay men in London, may have compromised the investigation

14.
James Shirley
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James Shirley was an English dramatist. His career of play writing extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by Parliament in 1642. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School, London, St Johns College, Oxford, and St Catharines College, Cambridge and his first poem, Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers, was published in 1618. After earning his M. A. he was, the Oxford biographer Anthony à Wood says, apparently in consequence of his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, he left his living, and was master of St Albans School from 1623–25. His first play, Love Tricks, seems to have been written while he was teaching at St Albans. Most of his plays were performed by Queen Henriettas Men, the company for which Shirley served as house dramatist, much as Shakespeare, Fletcher. Shirleys sympathies were with the King in his disputes with Parliament, between 1636 and 1640 Shirley went to Ireland, under the patronage apparently of the Earl of Kildare. Three or four of his plays were produced by his friend John Ogilby in Dublin in the Werburgh Street Theatre, during his Dublin stay, Shirley wrote The Doubtful Heir, The Royal Master, The Constant Maid, and St. Patrick for Ireland. In his absence from London, Queen Henriettas Men sold off a dozen of his plays to the stationers, who published them in the late 1630s. Shirley, when he returned to London in 1640, would no longer work for the Queen Henriettas company as a result, his final plays of his London career were acted by the Kings Men. On the outbreak of the English Civil War he seems to have served with the Earl of Newcastle and he owed something to the kindness of Thomas Stanley, but supported himself chiefly by teaching, publishing some educational works under the Commonwealth. Besides these he published during the period of dramatic eclipse four small volumes of poems and plays, in 1646,1653,1655, and 1659. Wood says that Shirley, who was aged seventy, and his wife died of fright and exposure after the Great Fire of London. Shirley was born to great wealth, and he handled it freely. He constructed his own out of the abundance of materials that had been accumulated during thirty years of unexampled dramatic activity. He spoke the language with the great dramatists, it is true. The violence and exaggeration of many of his contemporaries left him untouched and his scenes are ingeniously conceived, his characters boldly and clearly drawn, and he never falls beneath a high level of stage effect. The following list includes years of first publication, and of performance if known, the Maids Revenge The Traitor Loves Cruelty The Politician The Cardinal

15.
Ben Jonson
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Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic of the 17th century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours, Ben Jonson said that his family originally came from the folk of the Anglo-Scottish border country, which genealogy is attested by the three spindles in the Jonson family coat of arms. One spindle is a heraldic device shared with the Border-country Johnstone family of Annandale. Jonsons clergyman father died two months before his birth, his mother married a master bricklayer two years later, Jonson attended school in St. Martins Lane. Later, a family friend paid for his studies at Westminster School, on leaving Westminster School, Jonson was to have attended the University of Cambridge, to continue his book learning but did not, because of his unwilled apprenticeship to his bricklayer stepfather. According to the churchman and historian Thomas Fuller, Jonson at this time built a wall in Lincolns Inn. After having been a bricklayer, Ben Jonson went to the Netherlands. After his military activity on the Continent, Jonson returned to England and worked as an actor, as an actor, Jonson was the protagonist “Hieronimo” in the play The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd, the first revenge tragedy in English literature. Regarding his marriage Jonson described his wife to William Drummond as a shrew, concerning the family of Anne Lewis and Ben Jonson, the St. Martins Church registers indicate that Mary Jonson, their eldest daughter, died in November 1593, at six months of age. Moreover,32 years later, a son, also named Benjamin Jonson. By summer 1597, Jonson had an engagement in the Admirals Men, then performing under Philip Henslowes management at The Rose. John Aubrey reports, on authority, that Jonson was not successful as an actor, whatever his skills as an actor. By this time Jonson had begun to write plays for the Admirals Men. None of his early tragedies survive, however, an undated comedy, The Case is Altered, may be his earliest surviving play. In 1597 a play which he co-wrote with Thomas Nashe, The Isle of Dogs, was suppressed after causing great offence, arrest warrants for Jonson and Nashe were issued by Queen Elizabeth Is so-called interrogator, Richard Topcliffe. Jonson was jailed in Marshalsea Prison and charged with Leude and mutynous behaviour, two of the actors, Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaw, were also imprisoned. A year later, Jonson was again imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison. While in jail Jonson converted to Catholicism, possibly through the influence of fellow-prisoner Father Thomas Wright, in 1598 Jonson produced his first great success, Every Man in His Humour, capitalising on the vogue for humorous plays which George Chapman had begun with An Humorous Days Mirth

16.
The Alchemist (play)
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The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. The plays clever fulfilment of the unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of the few Renaissance plays with a continuing life on stage. The Alchemist premiered 34 years after the first permanent public theatre opened in London, it is, then, the theatres had survived the challenge mounted by the city and religious authorities, plays were a regular feature of life at court and for a great number of Londoners. The venue for which Jonson apparently wrote his play reflects this newly solid acceptance of theatre as a fact of city life. In 1597, the Lord Chamberlains Men had been denied permission to use the theatre in Blackfriars as a winter playhouse because of objections from the neighbourhoods influential residents. Some time between 1608 and 1610, the company, now the Kings Men, reassumed control of the playhouse and their delayed premiere on this stage within the city walls, along with royal patronage, marks the ascendance of this company in the London play-world. The Alchemist was among the first plays chosen for performance at the theatre, Jonsons play reflects this new confidence. In it, he applies his conception of drama to a setting in contemporary London for the first time. An outbreak of plague in London forces a gentleman, Lovewit, to flee temporarily to the country, leaving his house under the charge of his butler. Jeremy uses the opportunity given to him to use the house as the headquarters for fraudulent acts and he transforms himself into Captain Face, and enlists the aid of Subtle, a fellow conman, and Doll Common, a prostitute. The play opens with a violent argument between Subtle and Face concerning the division of the riches which they have, and will continue to gather, Face threatens to have an engraving made of Subtle with a face worse than that of the notorious highwayman Gamaliel Ratsey. Doll breaks the pair apart and reasons with them that they must work as a team if they are to succeed. Their first customer is Dapper, a clerk who wishes Subtle to use his supposed necromantic skills to summon a familiar or spirit to help in his gambling ambitions. The tripartite suggest that Dapper may win favour with the Queen of Fairy and their second gull is Drugger, a tobacconist, who is keen to establish a profitable business. After this, a nobleman, Sir Epicure Mammon, arrives, expressing the desire to gain himself the philosophers stone. He is accompanied by Surly, a sceptic and debunker of the idea of alchemy. He is promised the philosophers stone and promised that it will turn all base metal into gold, Surly however, suspects Subtle of being a thief. Mammon accidentally sees Doll and is told that she is a Lords sister who is suffering from madness, Subtle contrives to become angry with Ananias, an Anabaptist, and demands that he should return with a more senior member of his sect

17.
Thomas Middleton
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Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson among the most successful and he was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in comedy and tragedy. Also a prolific writer of masques and pageants, he one of the most notable. Middleton was born in London and baptised on 18 April 1580 and he was the son of a bricklayer who had raised himself to the status of a gentleman and who, interestingly, owned property adjoining the Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch. Middleton attended Queen’s College, Oxford, matriculating in 1598, before he left Oxford, he wrote and published three long poems in popular Elizabethan styles. None appears to have been successful, and one, his book of satires. Nevertheless, his career was launched. At the same time, records in the diary of Philip Henslowe show that Middleton was writing for the Admirals Men, unlike Shakespeare, Middleton remained a free agent, able to write for whichever company hired him. His early dramatic career was marked by controversy and his friendship with Thomas Dekker brought him into conflict with Ben Jonson and George Chapman in the War of the Theatres. The grudge against Jonson continued as late as 1626, when Jonsons play The Staple of News indulges in a slur on Middletons great success and it has been argued that Middletons Inner Temple Masque sneers at Jonson as a silenced bricklayer. In the same year an outbreak of the plague forced the theatres in London to close and these events marked the beginning of Middletons greatest period as a playwright. He continued his collaborations with Dekker, and the two produced The Roaring Girl, a biography of the contemporary thief Mary Frith, in the 1610s, Middleton began a fruitful collaboration with the actor William Rowley, producing Wit at Several Weapons and A Fair Quarrel. Working alone he produced his masterpiece, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. His own plays from this decade reveal a somewhat mellowed temper, certainly there is no comedy among them with the satirical depth of Michaelmas Term and no tragedy as bloodthirsty as The Revengers Tragedy. Middleton was, at the time, increasingly involved with civic pageants. This last connection was made official in 1620, when he was appointed chronologer of the City of London and he held this post until his death in 1627, when it passed to Jonson. Middletons official duties did not interrupt his dramatic writing, the 1620s saw the production of his and Rowleys tragedy The Changeling, in 1624, he reached a peak of notoriety when his dramatic allegory A Game at Chess was staged by the Kings Men. The play used the conceit of a game to present

18.
John Fletcher (playwright)
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John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Though his reputation has been far eclipsed since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the drama of the Restoration. Fletcher was born in December 1579 in Rye, Sussex, and he cried out at her death, So perish all the Queens enemies. Richard Fletcher died shortly after falling out of favour with the queen and he appears to have been partly rehabilitated before his death in 1596, however, he died substantially in debt. The upbringing of John Fletcher and his seven siblings was entrusted to his paternal uncle Giles Fletcher and his uncles connections ceased to be a benefit, and may even have become a liability, after the rebellion of the Earl of Essex, who had been his patron. Fletcher appears to have entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University in 1591 and it is not certain that he took a degree, but evidence suggests that he was preparing for a career in the church. Little is known about his time at college, but he followed the same path previously trodden by the University wits before him. In 1606, he began to appear as a playwright for the Children of the Queens Revels, at the beginning of his career, his most important association was with Francis Beaumont. The two wrote together for close to a decade, first for the children and then for the Kings Men, according to an anecdote transmitted or invented by John Aubrey, they also lived together, sharing clothes and having one wench in the house between them. This domestic arrangement, if it existed, was ended by Beaumonts marriage in 1613, and their partnership ended after Beaumont fell ill, probably of a stroke. By this time, Fletcher had moved into an association with the Kings Men. He collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and the lost Cardenio, a play he wrote singly around this time, The Womans Prize or the Tamer Tamed, is a sequel to The Taming of the Shrew. In 1616, after Shakespeares death, Fletcher appears to have entered into an arrangement with the Kings Men similar to Shakespeares. Fletcher wrote only for that company between the death of Shakespeare and his own death nine years later and he never lost his habit of collaboration, working with Nathan Field and later with Philip Massinger, who succeeded him as house playwright for the Kings Men. His popularity continued unabated throughout his life, during the winter of 1621 and he died in 1625, apparently of the plague. He seems to have buried in what is now Southwark Cathedral, although the precise location is not known. His mastery is most notable in two types, tragicomedy and comedy of manners. In the preface to the edition of his play, Fletcher explained the failure as due to his audiences faulty expectations

19.
King's Men (playing company)
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The Kings Men was the acting company to which William Shakespeare belonged for most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlains Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, they became The Kings Men in 1603 when King James I ascended the throne, the nine cited by name became Grooms of the Chamber. On 15 March 1604, each of the nine men named in the patent was supplied with four and this represented a workload twice as great as was typical under Elizabeth. The Kings Men needed more men and in 1604 the number of sharers was increased from eight or nine, ten, eleven, the new sharers included John Lowin, Alexander Cooke, and Nicholas Tooley. May 1605 brought the death of Augustine Phillips, in his will, Phillips left legacies to Shakespeare, Burbage, and eight other members of the company, plus two apprentices, and £5 to the hired men of the company which I am of. The company gave ten Court performances in the winter of 1605–6 and, unusually, each Court performance earned them £10. They also toured that summer, and were in Oxford at the end of July, nine performances at Court marked the winter of 1606–7, including a performance of 26 December of King Lear, the following winter, 1607–8, saw thirteen Court appearances. From July to December 1608 the theatres were closed due to plague, the Kings Men toured the countryside, they were in Coventry in late October. Sly, however, died soon after, and his share was split among the other six, the acquisition of the Blackfriars represented an enormous advantage for the company. It allowed the company to perform year round instead of only in clement weather, the Blackfriars hall is thought to have been 66 feet by 46 feet, including the stage, its maximum capacity was likely in the hundreds of spectators. This can be compared with the capacity at the Globe Theatre of 2500 to 3000. Yet the ticket prices at the Blackfriars were five to six times higher than those at the Globe, Globe tickets ranged from a penny to sixpence, tickets at the Blackfriars ranged from sixpence to two shillings sixpence. The cheapest admission at the Blackfriars equalled the most expensive at the Globe, adding the Blackfriars to the Globe should have allowed the Kings Men to at least double their income from public performances. 1609 was another year during which the company travelled, although nine plays were still performed at Court. 1610 was a year, with public performances at the Globe — Othello. By this time the company had been augmented by John Underwood and William Ostler, in 1611 Jonsons Catiline was performed, apart from Richard Robinsons substitution for Armin, the cast roster was the same as for Sejanus the previous year. This may have been John Heminges last production, in 1613 hes described as stuttering, Heminges normally received the payments for the companys Court performances, as far back as 1595, he continued to be active in the companys financial affairs even after he left the stage. Between October 1611 and April 1612 the Kings Men performed 22 plays at Court, including The Winters Tale and The Tempest

20.
Joseph Quincy Adams
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Joseph Quincy Adams Jr. was a prominent Shakespeare scholar and the first officially appointed director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C. He received his B. A. degree from Wake Forest College in 1900 and he continued his education at the University of Chicago, and at the University of Berlin. He pursued a career at several institutions, notably at Cornell University. Adams married Helen Banks on January 29,1931, though she died a short four years later, Adams was actively involved with the Folger Shakespeare Library from its foundation in 1931. He became the Librarys acting director in 1934, and its first regularly appointed director in 1936 and he also served as the editor of its periodical publications, as well as the general editor of the New Variorum edition of Shakespeares works. He wrote and published a range of books and scholarly articles, he was especially noted for his biography of Shakespeare. He was also a member of the Literary Society of Washington, mcManaway, James G. Giles E. Dawson, and Edwin E. Willoughby, eds. The Folger Shakespeare Library Photographs Works by Joseph Quincy Adams at Project Gutenberg Shakespearean Playhouses at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Joseph Quincy Adams Jr. at Internet Archive

21.
Culture of Ireland
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The culture of Ireland includes customs and traditions, language, music, art, literature, folklore, cuisine and sports associated with Ireland and the Irish people. For most of its history, Irelands culture has been primarily Gaelic. It has also influenced by Anglo-Norman, English and Scottish culture. The Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland in the 12th century, while the 16th/17th century conquest, today, there are notable cultural differences between those of Catholic and Protestant background, and between travellers and the settled population. Due to large-scale emigration from Ireland, Irish culture has a reach and festivals such as Saint Patricks Day. Irish culture has to some degree been inherited and modified by the Irish diaspora, in historic times, texts such as the Táin Bó Cúailinge show a society in which cattle represented a primary source of wealth and status. Little of this had changed by the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, giraldus Cambrensis portrayed a Gaelic society in which cattle farming and transhumance was the norm. The Normans replaced traditional clan land management with the system of land tenure. This led to the imposition of the village, parish and county over the system of townlands. In general, a parish was a civil and religious unit with a manor, a village, each parish incorporated one or more existing townlands into its boundaries. With the gradual extension of English feudalism over the island, the Irish county structure came into existence and was completed in 1610 and these structures are still of vital importance in the daily life of Irish communities. Apart from the significance of the parish, most rural postal addresses consist of house. This situation continued up to the end of the 19th century, in this process of reform, the former tenants and labourers became land owners, with the great estates being broken up into small- and medium-sized farms and smallholdings. The process continued well into the 20th century with the work of the Irish Land Commission and this contrasted with Britain, where many of the big estates were left intact. One consequence of this is the widely recognised cultural phenomenon of land hunger amongst the new class of Irish farmer. In general, this means that families will do almost anything to retain land ownership within the family unit. The majority of the Irish calendar today still reflects the old pagan customs, christmas in Ireland has several local traditions, some in no way connected with Christianity. On 26 December, there is a custom of Wrenboys who call door to door with an arrangement of assorted material to represent a dead wren caught in the furze, the festival is in remembrance to Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland

22.
Abbey Theatre
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The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world, since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. In its early years, the theatre was associated with the writers of the Irish Literary Revival, many of whom were involved in its founding. The Abbey served as a nursery for many of the leading Irish playwrights and actors of the 20th century, including William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Seán OCasey and John Millington Synge. In addition, through its programme of touring abroad and its high visibility to foreign, particularly American, audiences. The Abbey arose from three bases, the first of which was the seminal Irish Literary Theatre. Founded by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and W. B, Yeats in 1899—with assistance from George Moore—it presented plays in the Antient Concert Rooms and the Gaiety Theatre, which brought critical approval but limited public interest. The second base involved the work of two Dublin directors, William and Frank Fay, William worked in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while his brother Frank was involved in amateur dramatics in Dublin. In April 1902, the Fays gave three performances of Æs play Deirdre and Yeats Cathleen Ní Houlihan in a hall in St Theresas Hall on Clarendon Street, the performances played to a mainly working-class audience rather than the usual middle-class Dublin theatregoers. The run was a success, thanks in part to the beauty and force of Maud Gonne. The company continued at the Antient Concert Rooms, producing works by Seumas OCuisin, Fred Ryan, the third base was financial support and experience of Annie Horniman. Horniman was a middle-class Englishwoman with previous experience of production, having been involved in the presentation of George Bernard Shaws Arms. She came to Dublin in 1903 to act as Yeats unpaid secretary and her money helped found the Abbey Theatre and, according to the critic Adrian Frazier, would make the rich feel at home, and the poor—on a first visit—out of place. Encouraged by the St Theresas Hall success, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Æ, Martyn and they were joined by actors and playwrights from Fays company. At first, they staged performances in the Molesworth Hall, on 11 May 1904, the society formally accepted Hornimans offer of the use of the building. As Horniman did not usually reside in Ireland, the letters patent required were granted in the name of Lady Gregory. The founders appointed William Fay theatre manager, responsible for training the actors in the newly established repertory company

23.
Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair
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Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, anglicized as Gweedore Theatre, is a local theatre in the Gaeltacht region of Derrybeg in the parish of Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland. It seats over 200 patrons, and ever since it was opened by actress Siobhán McKenna, Aisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair was a group of actors founded in Srath na Corcra, Derrybeg in 1932, and they gained critical acclaim and travelled as far as Glasgow to perform. The key people involved in the group were Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríghde, Áine Nic Giolla Bhríghde, Johnnie Sheáin Ó Gallchóir, Proinsias Ó Maonaigh, Uí Bhraonáin, Tomás Mac Giolla Bhríghde, Seán Ó Casaide, Néilí Ó Maolagáin, Niall Ó Dufaigh, and Proinsias Ó Duibhir. Several well-known local entertainers took to the limelight in productions of Geamaireachtaí Aisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair, eithne Ní Bhraonáin from Dore - now globally known as Enya. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh - now of Altan fame, Máire Ní Bhraonáin - now known as Moya Brennan. Three of the Uí Chasaide clan Na Casaidigh, and the two Brennan brothers Pól and Ciarán of internationally renowned group Clannad. They all took part in the pantos before taking to the world-stage, there is an average of two to three productions in the Amharclann each year, plus drama competitions which are entered by local schools. The management board of the theatre have applied for a grant from the government to restore and renovate it

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Dean Crowe Theatre
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The Dean Crowe Theatre & Arts Centre is a theatre and arts space in Athlone, Westmeath, Ireland. Built in 1800 the building served as the church for 137 years. The altar was placed against the wall in the middle of the building, seating on three sides, with three galleries overhead, in 1937 the present day church of SS. Peter and Paul was completed, and so the building was converted to use as a hall, and later. In the 1960s, the building was home to the newly founded St. Aloysius College

25.
Everyman Palace Theatre
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The Everyman Theatre is a 650-seat Victorian theatre on MacCurtain Street in Cork, Ireland. Originally opened in 1897/98, it is the oldest purpose-built theatre building in Cork, the Everyman has undergone many changes, through its days as Dan Lowrey’s Palace of Varieties, life as a cinema, periods of disrepair, and reinvigoration as a modern theatre in the 1980s. The theatre is housed in a listed Victorian building with a stage and auditorium, with proscenium arch, four elaborately decorated boxes. The Everymans programme is a mix of plays, operas, musicals and concerts. In the summer months, it hosts productions by Irish playwrights, other major recurring events include the Guinness Jazz Festival in October, and the Christmas pantomime. A unique feature of the Everyman Palace is that its front of house ushering staff is composed entirely of volunteers, up until 2007, the Everyman hosted the Irish regional festival of the National Theatres New Connections program every May. It gained a reputation for supporting and enabling providing a platform for youth theatres such as Activate, Kildare Youth Theatre and Independent Youth Theatre

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Gate Theatre
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The theatre later moved to 1 Cavendish Row where leading Irish architect Michael Scott undertook the revisions necessary to the room to convert it into a theatre. Today the Theatre has a capacity of 371 people, the theatres current artistic director is Michael Colgan. This mission statement is still in effect today, orson Welles, James Mason and Michael Gambon started their acting careers at The Gate. In December 1983 the directorship of the Gate was handed to Michael Colgan, the Gate Theatre is the only theatre in the world to have existed with only two artistic directors. The Gate also featured three separate festivals of the works of Harold Pinter, the first theatre in Europe to do such retrospectives, in 2007, the first major musical to be produced by the Gate was Sondheims Sweeney Todd, with David Shannon playing the title role. Cartmell and Cathal Synnott, the director, use the comparatively intimate scale of the Gate well

27.
Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
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The Gaiety Theatre is a theatre on South King Street in Dublin, Ireland, off Grafton Street and close to St. Stephens Green. It specialises in operatic and musical productions, with occasional dramatic shows, designed by architect C. J. Patrick Wall and Louis Elliman bought the theatre in 1936 and ran it for several decades with local actors and actresses. They sold it in 1965, and in the 1960s and the 1970s the theatre was run by Fred ODonovan, in the 1990s Groundwork Productions took on the lease and the theatre was eventually bought by the Break for the Border Group. The Gaiety was purchased by music promoter Denis Desmond and his wife Caroline in the late 1990s, the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism also contributed to this restoration fund. Performers and playwrights associated with the theatre have been celebrated with hand-prints cast in bronze and these handprints include those of Luciano Pavarotti, Brendan Grace, Maureen Potter, Twink, John B Keane, Anna Manahan, Niall Toibin and Brian Friel. The theatre played host to the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, the first to be staged in Ireland, Clodagh Rodgers later presented her RTÉ TV series The Clodagh Rodgers Show from the theatre in the late 1970s. The Gaiety is known for its annual Christmas pantomime and has hosted a pantomime every year since 1874, actor and director Alan Stanford directed both Gaiety productions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The musical director for the past several shows has been Peter Beckett, Irish entertainer June Rodgers starred in the Gaiety pantomime for years, until she began to headline the equally established Olympia Theatre panto. The Gaiety shows have included Irish performers that appeal to home grown audiences, pantomimes in the 21st century have included versions of, Mother Goose, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pan, Red Riding Hood

28.
Lambert Puppet Theatre
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The Lambert Puppet Theatre & Museum is a puppet theatre located in Monkstown, County Dublin, Ireland. It is a family run business established in 1972 by Eugene Lambert and it used to produce childrens television series on Radio Telefís Éireann, such as Wanderly Wagon. The theatre is currently being run by Eugenes son, Liam, on August 28,2015, the theatre was badly damaged in an arson attack, causing over €150,000 worth in damage. On 13 November 2015, the theatre re-opened to the public with re-built puppets, for the Christmas performance of Aladdin

29.
Mill Theatre Dundrum
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Mill Theatre Dundrum, in Dublin, Ireland, was opened by Mary McAleese on May 4,2006 and is located in the Dundrum Town Centre. There are 205 seats in the main Auditorium/Theatre, the seating can be retracted to provide practice or performance space. The stage is an arch which is at ground level. In 2012, the space was renamed in honor of screen actress Maureen OHara who was born nearby, in Ranelagh. Mill Theatre Dundrum also has space for exhibiting visual arts

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Moat Theatre
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The Moat Theatre is a theatre and arts centre in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. The Moat Club was formed in the 1950s with the intention of providing the Naas area with facilities to be used for dramatic theater, in 1960 it bought the Christian Brothers school and converted the upper rooms into a hall for table tennis. The lower rooms were converted into a 125-seat theatre in 1963 and it was renovated in the early 2000s, re-opening in 2003. The Moat derives its name from the ancient motte, a reputed meeting-site of the Kings of Leinster, official site Facebook page Theatres Online page Into Kildare page entertainment. ie page

Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman in

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Father Mathew Bridge, formerly Dublin Bridge, is understood to be near the ancient "Ford of the Hurdles" (Baile Átha Cliath), the original crossing point on the River Liffey.

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Dublin Castle was the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland until 1922.

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Henrietta Street, developed in the 1720s, is the earliest Georgian Street in Dublin.

Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the

1.
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891).

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Flag

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In 1922 a new parliament called the Oireachtas was established, of which Dáil Éireann became the lower house.

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Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)

John Ogilby
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John Ogilby was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. Best known for publishing the first British road atlas, he was also a successful translator, Ogilby was born in or near Killemeare, Scotland in November 1600. This he used to himself to a dancing master and to obtain his fathers release. By further good management of his finances,

Theater (structure)
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A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed, or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance, a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces, the facility is traditionally organized to provide support areas for performer

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The interior of the Palais Garnier, showing the stage and auditorium.

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Backstage area of the Vienna State Opera

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Close-up of the seats in the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Minsk

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The ancient theater at Delphi, Greece

Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the i

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Satellite image of Ireland on 11 October 2010

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The Gowran Ogham Stone, Christianised c.6th Century. On display in St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran.

English Restoration
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The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established. It is very used to cover the whole reign of Charles II. Richard Cromwells main weakness was that he did not have the confidence of the army, after seven mo

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King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the English Restoration.

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The departure of Charles II from Scheveningen, 1660

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Thomas Harrison, the first person found guilty of regicide during the Restoration

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Equestrian portrait of William III by Jan Wyck, commemorating the start of the Glorious Revolution in 1688

Cockpit Theatre
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The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane, after damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix. The original building was a cockpit, that is, a staging area for cockfights. In August 1616, Christopher Beeston acquired the lease to the building, like earlier theatres, s

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These plans, drawn by Inigo Jones probably around 1616 to 1618, may be for the Cockpit Theatre.

Salisbury Court Theatre
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The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury, Salisbury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564, when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset in 1604, the building was renamed Dorset House. Little is k

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The Salisbury Court Theatre is shown to the west of St Paul's Cathedral in this London street map. Enlarge

Globe Theatre
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The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. A second Globe Theatre was built on the site by June 1614. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named Shakespeares Globe, opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre, from 1909, the current Gielgud Theatre was called Globe Theatre, until

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Site of the Globe Theatre, from Park Street; the dark line in the centre marks the foundation line. The white wall beyond is the rear of Anchor Terrace.

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The second Globe, preliminary sketch (c. 1638) for Hollar's 1647 Long View of London

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Conjectural reconstruction of the Globe theatre by C. Walter Hodges based on archeological and documentary evidence

Red Bull Theatre
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The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy. After Parliament closed the theatres in 1642, it continued to host illegal performances intermittently, and it burned in the Great Fire of London, among the last of

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The Red Bull is labelled in the top centre of this London street map. Enlarge

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
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Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I, from 1632–40 he was Lord Deputy of Ireland, where he established a strong authoritarian rule. Recalled to England, he became an advisor to the King, att

John Aubrey
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John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the Brief Lives and he was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England, and who is particularly noted as the discoverer of the Avebury henge monument. The Aubrey holes at St

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John Aubrey

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Part of the southern inner ring at Avebury

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An early photograph of Stonehenge taken July 1877

Dublin Castle
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Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the United Kingdom governments administration in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of Engli

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Dublin Castle, Upper Yard The Bedford Tower of 1761 comprises the centrepiece of the Castle's principal Georgian courtyard, flanked by the gates of Fortitude and Justice. It was from this building the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen in 1907.

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Dublin Castle, seen from the park to the south, outside the walls.

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Entry to the State Apartments

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Dublin Castle and Black Pool

James Shirley
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James Shirley was an English dramatist. His career of play writing extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by Parliament in 1642. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School, London, St Johns College, Oxford, and St Catharines College, Cambridge and his first poem, Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers, was published in 1618. After earning hi

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James Shirley

Ben Jonson
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Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic of the 17th century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours, Ben Jonson said that his family originally came from the folk of the Anglo-Scottish border country, which genealogy is attested by the th

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Ben Jonson (c. 1617), by Abraham Blyenberch; oil on canvas painting at the National Portrait Gallery, London

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Westminster School master William Camden cultivated the artistic genius of Ben Jonson.

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The Scottish poet William Drummond of Hawthornden was friend and confidant to Jonson.

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Title page of The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (1616), the first folio publication that included stage plays

The Alchemist (play)
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The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. The plays clever fulfilment of the unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of the few Renaissance plays with a continuing life on stage. The Alchemist premiered 34 years after the first permanent public theatre opened in London, it is, then, the theatres had survived th

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" David Garrick as Abel Drugger in Jonson's The Alchemist " by Johann Zoffany.

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A scene from a Los Angeles theatre production

Thomas Middleton
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Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson among the most successful and he was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in comedy and tragedy. Also a prolific writer of masques and pageants, he one of the most notable. Middleton was born in London and bapti

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Thomas Middleton, depicted in the frontispiece of Two New Plays, a 1657 edition of Women Beware Women and More Dissemblers Besides Women

John Fletcher (playwright)
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John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Though his reputation has been far eclipsed since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the drama of the Restoration. Fletcher was born in December 1579 in Rye, Sussex, and he cried out at her death, So perish all the Queens enemies. Richard Fletcher

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John Fletcher

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Portrait of John Fletcher, circa 1620

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Characters

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Characters

King's Men (playing company)
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The Kings Men was the acting company to which William Shakespeare belonged for most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlains Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, they became The Kings Men in 1603 when King James I ascended the throne, the nine cited by name became Grooms of the Chamber. On 15 March 1604, each of the nine men nam

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Plays

Joseph Quincy Adams
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Joseph Quincy Adams Jr. was a prominent Shakespeare scholar and the first officially appointed director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C. He received his B. A. degree from Wake Forest College in 1900 and he continued his education at the University of Chicago, and at the University of Berlin. He pursued a career at several inst

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Adams in 1948

Culture of Ireland
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The culture of Ireland includes customs and traditions, language, music, art, literature, folklore, cuisine and sports associated with Ireland and the Irish people. For most of its history, Irelands culture has been primarily Gaelic. It has also influenced by Anglo-Norman, English and Scottish culture. The Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland in the 12th

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Lough Gur, an early Irish farming settlement

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Traditional Irish cottage in Co. Antrim

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Modern Irish home in Co. Donegal

Abbey Theatre
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The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world, since July 1966, the Abb

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Front facade

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A poster for the opening run at the Abbey Theatre from 27 December 1904 to 3 January 1905

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Lady Gregory pictured on the frontispiece to Our Irish Theatre: A Chapter of Autobiography (1913)

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John Millington Synge, author of The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots at the Abbey on the play's opening night

Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair
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Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, anglicized as Gweedore Theatre, is a local theatre in the Gaeltacht region of Derrybeg in the parish of Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland. It seats over 200 patrons, and ever since it was opened by actress Siobhán McKenna, Aisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair was a group of actors founded in Srath na Corcra, Derrybeg in 1932, and the

Dean Crowe Theatre
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The Dean Crowe Theatre & Arts Centre is a theatre and arts space in Athlone, Westmeath, Ireland. Built in 1800 the building served as the church for 137 years. The altar was placed against the wall in the middle of the building, seating on three sides, with three galleries overhead, in 1937 the present day church of SS. Peter and Paul was completed

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History

Everyman Palace Theatre
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The Everyman Theatre is a 650-seat Victorian theatre on MacCurtain Street in Cork, Ireland. Originally opened in 1897/98, it is the oldest purpose-built theatre building in Cork, the Everyman has undergone many changes, through its days as Dan Lowrey’s Palace of Varieties, life as a cinema, periods of disrepair, and reinvigoration as a modern theat

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Awning of Everyman on MacCurtain Street

Gate Theatre
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The theatre later moved to 1 Cavendish Row where leading Irish architect Michael Scott undertook the revisions necessary to the room to convert it into a theatre. Today the Theatre has a capacity of 371 people, the theatres current artistic director is Michael Colgan. This mission statement is still in effect today, orson Welles, James Mason and Mi

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Gate Theatre

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
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The Gaiety Theatre is a theatre on South King Street in Dublin, Ireland, off Grafton Street and close to St. Stephens Green. It specialises in operatic and musical productions, with occasional dramatic shows, designed by architect C. J. Patrick Wall and Louis Elliman bought the theatre in 1936 and ran it for several decades with local actors and ac

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Gaiety Theatre

Lambert Puppet Theatre
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The Lambert Puppet Theatre & Museum is a puppet theatre located in Monkstown, County Dublin, Ireland. It is a family run business established in 1972 by Eugene Lambert and it used to produce childrens television series on Radio Telefís Éireann, such as Wanderly Wagon. The theatre is currently being run by Eugenes son, Liam, on August 28,2015, the t

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Lambert Puppet Theatre

Mill Theatre Dundrum
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Mill Theatre Dundrum, in Dublin, Ireland, was opened by Mary McAleese on May 4,2006 and is located in the Dundrum Town Centre. There are 205 seats in the main Auditorium/Theatre, the seating can be retracted to provide practice or performance space. The stage is an arch which is at ground level. In 2012, the space was renamed in honor of screen act

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Mill Theatre Dundrum (Main entrance)

Moat Theatre
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The Moat Theatre is a theatre and arts centre in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. The Moat Club was formed in the 1950s with the intention of providing the Naas area with facilities to be used for dramatic theater, in 1960 it bought the Christian Brothers school and converted the upper rooms into a hall for table tennis. The lower rooms were converte